The Age of Industry (1865-1900)

1. The Age of Industry (1865-1900) After the Civil War, American scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs, encouraged by capitalism and the government, transformed the U.S. into an industrial powerhouse.

2. Natural Resources Fuel Growth • Coal Mines • Forests • Farm Land • 1859 – 1st Oil Well drilled in PA (Edwin Drake) • Oil replaced whale blubber • Immigration – Peaked at 1 M a year in 1905

3. Laissez-faire Economics • The U.S. Gov’t policy was “hands off” • Businesses had little gov’t regulation, subsidies, and protective tariffs • 100% Supply and Demand!

4. Railroads Lead the Way! • As the USA was united by rail (Transcontinental R.R. 1869), problems resulted for trains, freight, and people • Solar time was no longer adequate • 1883 the U.S. and most of world adopted International Standard Time

5. Electricity Changed Lives! • Thomas A. Edison • Phonograph (1877) • Electric Light (1880) • Power Plant (1882) • Motion Picture (1888)

6. Advancing Communications • Samuel F.B. Morse used Morse Code to transmit telegraph messages in 1844 • By 1900 Western Union was sending 63 M messages a year • Alexander G. Bell’s telephone (1876) led to the formation of AT&T in 1885

7. The Rise of the Steel Industry • Bessemer Process made steel production more efficient • John A. Roebling’s Brooklyn Bridge (1883) • “Race to the Skies” and RR’s improved too

8. Arthur Ravenel, Jr. BridgeCharleston, SC – July 2005 It is the longest cable suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

9. Exit Slip – Inventors of the Industrial Age 1. The government’s policy toward the economy after the Civil War can be described as a. very involved b. little Involved 2. In 1883, the move to Standard Time was driven by the _______ industry. a. steel b. coal mining c. auto d. railroad 3. He is credited with the invention of the electric light? a. Edison b. Bell c. Gates d. Swift 4. Which of the following was not an important industry in post-Civil War America? a. Steel b. Oil c. Telegraph d. Electronic

10. Thinking about Big Business-Bell Ringer! 1. What does it mean to own stock in a company? Explain. 2. Why is gasoline now $2.59 (9/2/10) a gallon compared to $3.69 (9/12/08)? 3. What if people refused to pay $2.59 per gallon for gasoline? Explain. 4. Do you have the right to make as much money as you possibly can? Explain. 5. Why do some workers join labor unions? $3.69 9/12/08 $1.84 2/13/09 $2.38 9/26/09 $ 2.59 9/2/10

11. Many Corporations Merge • Corporation – people get a charter & sell shares of stock to raise capital (P. 108) • Monopoly – Corporations join to control an entire industry or service • Trust – Companies ally and turn assets over to board of trustees • The goal was to restrict competition! • Interstate Commerce Commission (1887) • Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) – But it was rarely enforced for 15 years – Why?

12. Andrew Carnegie and Steel • 13 yr-old Scottish Immigrant earned $1.35-wk (1848) • Carnegie Steel (1889) • Used Vertical Integration (coal, RR’s, iron mines) to force competitors out

13. John D. Rockefeller and Oil • 1st oil well in Titusville, PA (1859) • Cleveland, OH Refinery built in 1863 • Standard Oil Trust formed in 1870 via Horizontal Integration (P. 110) • He drove his competitors out of business as he sidestepped laws

14. Horizontal and Vertical Integration

15. Social Darwinism and the “Gospel of Wealth” • Carnegie said “millionaires are bees that make most honey” • Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution (1859) • Social Darwinism held that gov’t shouldn’t interfere with business and the most fit will be rich

16. Robber Barons or Captains of Industry? • Did the wealthy “rob” from the public and workers to build empires? • Did their contributions (jobs, goods, services, and philanthropy) outweigh the bad?

17. Exit Slip – The Rise of Big Business • T or F – Many industrialists formed trusts during the 19th Century in an attempt to gain complete control of an industry or a service. • T or F - Andrew Carnegie made a fortune in the oil industry. • T or F – The theory of Social Darwinism put forth the belief that the smartest business owners are the “fittest” and,thus, they are the most successful. • T or F - Critics of big business owners derogatorily called them “Robber Barons.”

18. Industrialization and Workers • It was a family affair • Child Labor – 1/5 ages 10-16 worked • No welfare only over-burdened charities • 12-hour days, 6- day weeks • Unsafe conditions – 1882 avg. 675 deaths/ week – 120 today

19. The Rise of Labor Unions • 1820s - Collective Bargaining – negotiating as a group for better wages or benefits • Strike - the most potent collective bargaining method • Socialism – many labor activists borrowed from this philosophy

20. Early Labor Unions • Knights of Labor (1869) – skilled and unskilled • American Federation of Labor (1886) – craft unions – more exclusive than the Knights • 1890 Census – 9% controlled 75% of wealth

21. 1877 RR Strike – President Hayes uses federal troops-wages cut Haymarket Square (1886) – Chicago, 8 HR Day, bomb, dozens killed Homestead, PA (1892) – Carnegie Steel – cut wages Pullman Strike (1894) – 120,000 ARU and Eugene V. Debs – 30 killed The Great Strikes! (Pg. 118)